Senate Bill 2945

AN ACT TO CREATE SECTION 99-3-14, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR TEMPORARY DETENTION BY A PEACE OFFICER OF A PERSON SUSPECTED OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR OR OF VIOLATING CONDITIONS OF PAROLE OR PROBATION IN CONFORMITY TO THE TERRY STOP CASE; TO ENACT CERTAIN LIMITATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 99-3-14, Mississippi Code of 1972:

99-3-14. Detention not amounting to arrest. (1) (a) Any peace officer may detain any person whom the officer encounters under circumstances which reasonably indicate that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime.

(b) Any peace officer may detain any person the officer encounters under circumstances which reasonably indicate that the person has violated or is violating the conditions of his parole or probation.

(c) The officer may detain the person pursuant to this section only to ascertain his identity and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his presence abroad. Any person so detained shall identify himself, but may not be compelled to answer any other inquiry of any peace officer.

(d) A person must not be detained longer than is reasonably necessary to effect the purposes of this section, and in no event longer than sixty (60) minutes. The detention must not extend beyond the place or the immediate vicinity of the place where the detention was first effected, unless the person is arrested.

(2) At any time after the onset of the detention pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the person so detained shall be arrested if probable cause for an arrest appears. If, after inquiry into the circumstances which prompted the detention, no probable cause for arrest appears, such person shall be released.

(3) (a) If any peace officer reasonably believes that any person whom he has detained or is about to detain pursuant to subsection (1) of this section is armed with a dangerous weapon and is a threat to the safety of the peace officer or another, the peace officer may search such person to the extent reasonably necessary to ascertain the presence of such weapon. If the search discloses a weapon or any evidence of a crime, such weapon or evidence may be seized.

(b) Nothing seized by a peace officer in any such search is admissible in any proceeding unless the search which disclosed the existence of such evidence is authorized by and conducted in compliance with this section.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2005.